5 tips for a good retirement

Giving some serious thought to your retirement. Millions of Dutch people put this off continually, although it’s more important than ever to take control. After all, it’s about your income later in life.

Financially fit
Most people only start to think about their retirement provisions, the closer they get to their retirement date. That’s when most people start asking questions like how much they’ve set aside, and how much they’ll have for spending when they stop working. It’s much wiser, however, to determine how financially fit you are right now. How, exactly? BeFrank has gathered 5 handy tips to help every Dutch person prepare better for retirement. It’s mostly about giving yourself the time to think about your pension health and which measures to take to prevent a possible pension gap.

5 specific tips

1. Realise that your pension is your salary
Do you think of your pension as something that’s far removed from your everyday life? Something that’ll eventually happen, but that’s not important right now? You’re not alone. The first step towards decent retirement provisions is realising that it involves your income for later when you’re no longer working day after day. After all, it’s commonly understood: your salary is important, right? This way, you can still live a fun life for many years, after the age of 68. If you only start thinking about this at the age of 50, it will be much too late.

2. Assess your retirement savings
Measurement is key. Assess your retirement savings by visiting Mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl. You can use your DigiD to log in. At BeFrank, we’ve created a link so you can very easily upload all your pension funds to your page. This will give you a complete overall picture, instantly.

Fact: Just 40 percent of Dutch people have a clear picture of their finances once they stop working.

3. Determine how much income you’ll need
Figure out now, how you want to live your life after you’ve stopped working. For example, do you want to travel to faraway places, continue to live in the same home, or drive a different car? Prioritise your needs and determine how much income you’ll need, more or less, to do it all. Compare this amount to the pension you expect to receive later. Is the difference between your income and lifestyle quite substantial? Time to act.

Fact: More than half of all Dutch people do not accrue enough pension.

4. Time to make the right choices
‘I can’t influence it anyway.’ This is one of the things people often say when it comes to retirement savings. Yet, that’s mostly not the case, and you can certainly make the necessary changes. For example, at BeFrank, you can change your investment methods, so they interlock nicely with the degree of risk that you’re willing to take. Do you want to help build a better world? Choose socially responsible investing (SRI). After all, everyone is a little different.

5. And now… time to act!
You know more or less what lifestyle you want to live, how much you’ll need for it, and what you’re short at the moment. Time to act. You may choose to save extra now, for later. You can arrange this through your employer or supplementary pension. You can already make a tremendous difference with just 25 euros a month.

How financially fit are you?
Besides a healthy life, you want a healthy pension. By staying aware of the pension market and react to it in a flexible way, we keep your pension in top condition. Do you already have a pension scheme with BeFrank? Then you can see how your pension is doing on your Personal Pension page. Here you will also find the most important updates. Do you not have a pension scheme with BeFrank yet? Ask your employer about the possibilities.